


White Hats, Black Hats, and Checkered Coats

by pennysparrow



Category: DCU (Comics), Starman (Comics), The Flash (Comics)
Genre: Don't copy to another site, F/M, Family Dinners, Food, Gen, Mentioned Rogues (The Flash), Team as Family
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-23
Updated: 2020-08-23
Packaged: 2021-03-07 01:08:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,503
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26058475
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pennysparrow/pseuds/pennysparrow
Summary: Piper finds himself inadvertently strong armed into an unusual dinner at the Garrick's with someone who apparently wants to meet him.
Relationships: Linda Park/Wally West, Minor or Background Relationship(s)
Comments: 10
Kudos: 29





	White Hats, Black Hats, and Checkered Coats

**Author's Note:**

> So I went on a Piper Kick a couple months ago and now I've finished Starman and went on a Shade Kick and I just find it really interesting that they're both former Flash Rogues who got redemption arcs in the 90s? I'm not complaining and I love it and there's definitely something more I want to explore there. This is sort of a fun beginning to that? Maybe?

“This better not be you two setting me up,” Piper warns as he slides into the backseat of Linda’s car.

“It’s not,” Wally assures, turning around with a grin.

Linda on the other hand lets out a long and completely contradictory syllable. Hartley levels a glare at the back of her head as she pulls away from the curb. Once she’d merged smoothly into traffic she has the good sense to shoot him a grimace in the rearview mirror. “It’s not a _date_ setup at least. More like a friend setup?”

Hartley sighs, collapsing back into the seat and not caring if he wrinkled the blazer they insisted he wear. “I have friends,” he informs them. “I even have friends without criminal records. I don’t need you two scheduling playdates for me like some weird game of house.”

“That’s not what this is,” Wally insists, turning around to level those too honest green eyes on him. “Jay and Joan called and invited us for dinner and insisted you come too. They’re also the ones who said formal attire.” Wally makes a face and pulls at his own collared shirt, “You really think I’d be sitting in a car and wearing this if it were anyone else?”

He had a point. Jay was like a weird combo of uncle and grandfather figure to Wally and a father figure to Bart. Piper might not know the man super well but he was family to the people he considered family. Besides, he was the first Flash – the _original_ – and yet had no qualms when he’d learned Piper had “switched sides” which was more than he could say about other members of the so-called hero community. If Jay called and invited Wally, Linda, and Piper to dinner then Wally, Linda, and Piper were going to be at dinner, not even the end of the world would stop them.

Then there was Joan who Piper just deeply loved. Not to mention was fascinated by the fact she supposedly participated in some super-secret annual pie competition against Superman’s mom, Batman’s dad(? he wasn’t convinced Batman was an actual person and not a scary ghost despite all the Robins, thus questioning the existence of this possible father though it sure sounded like this mystery man was Batman’s dad), the original Red Tornado (who Wally explained once was the JSA’s den mother but Wally only half explains anything about the JSA and at superspeed to boot and Piper is in too deep at this point to ask questions), and Hourman (again, Piper is in too deep to question this). Apparently, Piper is signed up to help judge this year’s competition? Because the speedsters are, in Wally’s words: _huff_ “biased. Despite the fact we’re each biased towards a different person so it all cancels out. Though we do have a tendency to not leave enough pie for the other judges…” And the Arrows had resigned, something about their taste buds being off thanks to Green Arrow’s chili?

Piper ponders all this as Linda drives towards the suburbs of Keystone the Garrick’s call home. He’s still a little peeved about the whole thing but at least he’ll get a fantastic homecooked meal and free entertainment out of it. There’s no doubt in his mind that Bart will be required at this particular – possibly family? – dinner and that he and Wally will antagonize each other endlessly. Hartley and Linda are going to sit back, relax, and sign snarky commentary to each other.

Maybe he’s getting upset over nothing, though he has to agree with Wally on the dress code.

Linda pulls into the driveway, a well restored antique van already there and parked up close to the garage. “This is new,” she comments as she unbuckles her seatbelt. Wally hums his agreement and then he’s off, looking the van over. Piper and Linda share a smile as they climb out of the car like the non-speedsters they are.

“It says ‘Knight’s Past’ on the side,” Wally informs them, appearing next to his wife and kissing her on the cheek. “Couldn’t tell you why but that rings an awful lot of bells right now.”

“You sure your ears aren’t just ringing because someone’s still thinking we got him here under false pretenses,” Linda says with a smirk and a wink thrown over her shoulder as the trio head towards the door.

Hartley throws up his hands. “Not guilty,” he asserts, though his straight face slips into a grin as Wally leans on the doorbell.

The front door is painted a gorgeous deep blue, though he barely has time to admire it before it’s whipped open. Bart stands before them in a yellow button down and khakis with a red bow tie. The resemblance to his grandfather startles Hartley, even with Bart’s unruly auburn hair, pale brown eyes, and the fact he’s tugging on his tie like it’s an inhibitor collar. He thinks Wally has the same realization because he’s frozen solid for a few seconds which is hours in Wally-time.

Thankfully, Linda covers the awkwardness by pulling Bart into a hug and shifting herself through the door at the same time. It’s a motion of skill and beauty and Piper is suitably impressed. She’s still laughing with Bart about some inside joke by the time he and Wally followed them into the living room.

Maybe today just isn’t Piper’s day? Because the living room is a little cramped with a young woman in a bright dress bouncing a toddler on her knee, a young man in an obviously vintage bowling shirt with gold hoops in his ears laughing about something with Joan, Jay listening intently to a young boy holding what appear to be Pokémon cards, and a woman with stunning hair nearly the same ginger as Wally’s sitting on the couch chatting with the first woman and holding hands with _the freaking Shade_.

While he’s not wearing his telltale top hat, the spats and dark glasses perched low on his nose would be enough of a dead giveaway. The cane resting against his knee really seals the deal.

Piper was never a Rogue the same time as The Shade, hell Hartley Rathaway wasn’t even so much as a twinkle in his father’s eye when The Shade was robbing Keystone’s downtown. Yet, the man’s reputation proceeded him. Even Cold spoke in hushed tones about the sheer power The Shade possessed. There’d been rumors – so many and contradictory in the way rumors are – about him being a killer and a hero. Regardless, he never ever expected to see him sitting in the Garrick’s living room.

“Courtney said they can’t come,” Bart is grumbling by the time Piper comes back to the here and now. He doesn’t know who Courtney is or what even Bart is referring to but he does feel bad for him with that tone of voice. Though it was still distantly. So distantly.

“I’m so thrilled y’all could come,” Jay says, having ruffled the young boy’s hair he’d been chatting with before coming to welcome his new guests. He tugs first Wally and then Linda into a hug. He holds out his arms, giving Hartley the option of a hug too but only if he wants. Maybe another day, one when he wasn’t thrown so off balance. Instead Hartley offers his hand. Jay smiles, seeming to understand and grabs the offered hand in a firm but warm shake.

“I wasn’t expecting a party,” Wally says wryly, eyeing the packed living room.

“I’ve got to keep you on your toes somehow,” Jay jokes, making Linda and Piper share a glance and a smile as Wally half-jokingly rolls his eyes with a grumble.

“So are you going to introduce us? If not, I’m going to start making friends on my own,” Linda grins. She still has Bart tucked under her arm, an impressive feat that Piper makes note of and can see Jay and Wally doing the same.

“My home is yours,” Jay says, an unguarded honesty underneath. His expression twists into something mischievous that tugged at old memories of team-up brawls in the streets when Piper was much younger and Jay seemed much the same. “Though I guess I can have my arm twisted into playing host.”

This puts Piper at ease, even if he is still eyeing The-freaking-Shade who had half-turned to eye him back.

The jibes of being the Flash’s lapdog always pissed Piper off, especially when James – who was working for the FBI anymore for crying out loud – felt the need to pile on. Wally is his friend and he found he’s able to do more good as a hero than a Rogue. He was still decidedly his own person.

However, he was perfectly content to follow in Jay and Wally’s wake today as they were ushered around the room.

Wally found himself distracted by the man Jay introduced as Jack Knight, the two having known – or maybe known of? – each other causing them to start chatting. Piper and Linda left them to it as Jay proceeds to Jack’s wife Sadie and their kids. Linda found herself pulled into a deep conversation about Pokémon with the little boy – Ted – that she strong armed Bart into joining. Which left just Hartley as Jay says, “And this is Hope O’Dare of the Opal City PD and The Shade, an old friend.”

Hartley meets Hope’s dazzling smile with his own much more subdued. He swallows when he sees The Shade reach out a gloved hand. Hartley meets it and is surprised to find a normal, if strong, handshake is all it is. “Hartley Rathaway,” The Shade drawls with a slow grin, like he knew something and Hartley was the only one in the whole world who wasn’t also privy. “Jay tells me that you’re a fellow turncoat.”

Well that was a shock.

“Dinner’s ready,” Joan calls, having poked her head out of the kitchen and immediately earned everyone’s full attention. “We’ll be eating on the back porch so if I could have some of you boys-”

She never got the chance to finish her sentence, a strong wind whipping up within the house followed by the hair tingling crackle of electricity. Though he barely saw more than a possible blur, Piper knew the speedsters already leapt into action and all the food would be laid out on the table.

Joan gives a broad smile, “Well, in that case, shall we go eat?”

Feeling only slightly like a ninth wheel, what with the other single party guests unable to legally vote, Piper joins the small queue onto the patio. The Garrick’s backyard is always impressive, spacious with meticulous flowerbeds and broad-leafed trees, tonight it hung with string lights and a large wooden picnic table festooned with baked potatoes, pork loin, and more.

“Mrs. Garrick, I say this every time you invite me over but I really do love your yard. It’s like a park back here,” he says, finding himself walking out next to her and thankfully away from The Shade.

“Hartley,” she starts in a teasing scold, “how many times do I have to insist on you calling me Joan?”

“At least once more,” he laughs.

Her smile betrays her put on exasperation. “Well thank you,” she says. “I watch a lot of HGTV and sometimes I find I actually enjoy it.”

Piper snorts as Joan walks off to help settle the little ones. This distraction is his undoing. By the time he turns to the picnic table the only spot available to him was settled firmly between Linda and Jay, directly across from The Shade.

In the many years that Hartley had been the Pied Piper as both a Rogue and a hero he’d seen a lot. Done more. And learned that he had no small amount of courage. Yet the man in the dark suit and glasses made him want to gather all of it up just so he could sit across from him. It was only mildly embarrassing. Knowing that McCulloch or Digger would probably be pissing themselves by this point made Hartley feel marginally better. Besides, Jay had introduced him as an ‘old friend’ which was… odd. But had to count for something?

So, he gathers up his courage and takes his seat. Linda immediately passes him a bottle of wine and he knows she understands his silent thanks. Hartley fills his glass and passes the bottle across the table, knowing that Jay didn’t drink regardless of any immunity to alcohol brought on by an enhanced metabolism.

“Now,” The Shade is saying smoothly, pouring wine for both himself and Hope, an amused part of Hartley notes her muttering of ‘ _damn chivalry’_ , “do you prefer The Pied Piper or Hartley? I still don’t know what the accepted culture of all this is.”

It’s not what he’s expecting, though that seems to be the theme of the evening, and he returns the polite smile. “Piper is fine, it’s what most people call me in or out of costume. Criminal record ruins the secret identity schtick a bit. Though fearless reporters mean I get to still use my moniker,” he pokes Linda lightly in the side with his elbow but shoots her a genuine smile.

She preens a bit, hamming it up at the attention, “You’re welcome.”

“Jack never even bothered with a secret identity,” Hope laughs, sharing a grin with the man further down the table.

“Hey, everyone already knew my dad was Starman. Besides, the whole no tights rule was my first stipulation to taking the job,” he jokes back, helping his own son cut his food.

“Didn’t you have those goggles?” Wally asks, lifting his head from where he’d practically inhaled two baked potatoes already. This is why Piper stopped inviting him to grab lunch.

“I used to have goggles,” Bart mutters wistfully. Piper has to bite his lip to keep from laughing, knowing full well he was the only person who heard it.

“He did,” The Shade smirks. “Though I thought they added a bit of validity to the whole thing. However, the glowing gold staff was what really did it.”

Jack stops in order to point a finger at The Shade, “They did their job.”

Raising his wine to his lips, The Shade’s smirk never drops as he hums. “Yes, I suppose they did.”

There’s laughs at what feels like the opening to a well loved banter pattern. When Jay chuckles though Piper feels his earlier suspicions return.

Starman was JSA, Piper knew that at least, and The Shade and Jack were obviously friends, Hope too. This could’ve been a nice dinner between old friends, catching up since going separate ways by the way they all talked. Yet, the Garrick’s invited Wally and Linda and what’s more, they invited Piper. Wally and Jack seemed to get along well, both the type who could make conversation with a brick wall if they had too, and Linda was enjoying the chaos of so many people plus little kids. Not to mention, there was bound to be stories swapped later and Linda was an excellent reporter, she loved juicy gossip.

The question was: Where did Piper fit into this?

With the follow up question: Why had The Shade called him a “fellow turncoat”?

Well, you don’t become a Rogue without inherently being a pain in the ass so Piper decides to be a little bit of a pain in the ass. Just a little.

He reaches inside himself and manages to pull up even more courage than he thought he had; some reserve well being dredged. Besides, rumors were _rumors_ and he had three speedsters, a former Starman, a cop, Linda, and one of his own sonic guns shoved in his pocket. He’d be fine if this went south. Hopefully.

“So,” he nonchalantly cuts into his potato, “is it ‘The Shade’ or is ‘Shade’ ok? Or do you prefer just ‘The’?” He lifts his fork to his mouth with wide, innocent eyes. His heart pounds but at the same time Piper feels like he’s fifteen again and knows he managed to pull the rug out from under his father for the first time.

Across from him, The Shade’s mouth stretches from a smirk into a smile. He laughs, just a soft huff of sound. “Shade is fine,” he finally says and the smile never slips.

Jay huffs and soon the table is laughing again.

“Tell me,” Linda says with her wide smile and piercing eyes, “what brings you all here to Keystone?”

“Well, Jay called me up insisting that I come visit and bring the family,” Jack explains, shooting his wife a winning smile and messing up his son’s dark hair. “Then he cinched the deal when he said Shade was already going to be here.”

All eyes turn to the man in question. He seems completely unfazed. “Jay mentioned that the current Flash had an ally who had formerly been a Rogue. I was curious. My curiosity paid off because here you are.” Shade smiles and the lack of reaction from anyone else proves Piper’s gut feeling that there’s something else going on here.

Trying not to trip on the sudden uneven conversational ground, Piper offers a weak smile and a weaker laugh. “I feel like I’m at a disadvantage.”

“Don’t worry,” Hope says with a roll of her eyes and bite of her food, “he makes everyone feel like that.”

There’s a snort from down the table, Piper manages to make out it’s not Wally and so must be Jack. Sadie is grinning, trying to hide her smile by focusing on her daughter. When Piper glances back to The Shade he’s surprised to see he seems bemused by all of this.

Shade takes another, almost dainty, sip from his wine. “Really I just have one question for you, Piper.”

Hartley raises an eyebrow.

A hush falls on the table.

“Why?”

Everyone turns to them.

Hartley blinks, once, twice.

“Why what?” he finally says.

“Why stop fighting the Flash? And join him instead?”

Piper quirks an eyebrow, didn’t this guy watch the news? He’s been over this like a million times by this point. When the other shoe doesn’t drop Piper lets his brow drop instead, pulling the pair into a crease.

Thankfully, Shade picks up on his confusion. There’s only a stutter in the atmosphere before he manages to smooth it out, flashing a quick smile. “Well, you can’t fault me for my dramatics. It’s something to do with helping humanity correct? No, what I’m truly curious about is: do you consider yourself a hero? Anti-hero? Anti- _villain_?” his smile widens and there’s some collective groaning from around the table.

Wally and Linda share a look and unsure sounding laugh. Piper is still a bit too on edge to join them.

“I jest,” he attests. “Please, you’re very on edge, Piper, I merely heard tell of your story and thought our situations similar. I asked Jay if he might make an introduction, thinking you might enjoy the company of a kindred spirit from time to time. I’m-” here he pauses slightly, eyeing the others occupying the picnic table who had slipped back into their own conversations at the word _‘jest’_ , “I have been rediscovering the joys of fellowship in recent years.”

The Shade’s face softens and his gaze shifts again to the people around them.

Piper sees it for what it is, an offer. He loves Wally, he’s not the straight-lace Barry had been, and Jay and Joan have always been kind – though this surprising friendship may be part of the reason for that. Bart is great if intense and Linda is like a second sister. It’s cliché and a bit unkind, but they don’t always understand. He’s never really been _bad_ , having the Robin Hood complex more than anything, but he’d been involved in some schemes that he was less than proud of now.

“I have heard that the Opal City Opera is exquisite,” Piper offers in return.

He knows it’s accepted the moment Shade smiles, lifting his wine in a small toast. “I happen to be a season ticket holder; I’d be honored to have you accompany me sometime.”

With a nod, Piper finally turns his focus back to his meal. He’s not quite settled but he is more relaxed than when they arrived. Bart’s impromptu debate with Jack on various Hitchcock movies helps though, especially when Wally relays a story of pranking his Aunt Iris while she and Barry were watching _The Birds_. The fact it involved Robin somehow makes it even better and has the whole table in stitches.

By the end of the evening, Hartley is glad he came and secretly thrilled The Shade had orchestrated this whole night in the first place. There was something reassuring about seeing someone whose past was so checkered and wore a decidedly gray (metaphorical) hat be so accepted and trusted by so many. It gave Piper and his own decidedly white hat an odd sense of hope.

**Author's Note:**

> The Super Secret Annual Pie Contest is my new favorite thing. Bit of a pity I buried it in this fic no one will likely read but I'm keeping it in my back pocket because it's a silly concept I'm now deeply invested in.


End file.
